Do you happen to know where I can buy really heavy ones? All I found so far are some 3-5 lbs weights, and that's simply too little.

You are incorrect that 3-5 lbs is too little, especially for a beginner. 1-2 lbs is actually more common. The reason is that you're comparing them to conventional weights, where the weight is not swung and not at the end of a shaft. You'd likely have trouble doing a bunch of clubwork with 5lb clubs if you've never done it before.

Here's a tough-looking combat sports guy practicing with some clubs that are probably only 1lb:

Heavier clubs, like the ones used in Pehlwani, have a lot less exercises available.

Now, if you do want some heavy clubs, I've heard of people making them out of an upturned traffic cone, concrete, a stick, and some tape. Here's a basic design of what I mean:

If you want something adjustable, there are long metal ones that end in a weight flange like for a dumbbell. Here's my old timey workout stuff, with the adjustable club leaning on the right (it uses those weight plates):

Note that those decent-sized Indian clubs are only like 3lbs, and I still get a good workout with them. Keep in mind that when you're swinging clubs, you can add more resistance by doing it faster.

Yes, it's not realistic, as you can't ever practice this. The best that we can do is simulate this as best we can with armor and simulated blades to prevent injury. If a student gets too reliant on armor, and starts losing respect for the weapon, just take the armor off. (Obviously not with a live blade.) He'll re-gain the respect pretty quickly.

I like to train students using a variety of weapons and protection levels for sparring. Heavy sticks and heavy padding. Light sticks and light padding. Light sticks and no padding for controlled sparring. For students who are afraid of being hit, and dishing out damage, pad them up good, and cut them loose. For the cocky ones who wade in too much, pad up their opponent, and take their pads off. Just custom tailor the protection to the needs of the student. It's pretty easy.

For the people crying "But what about blades?!!!"... Some of us practice an impact weapon system, or at least make a specific reference as to what is a stick tactic compared to what is a blade tactic. Students need to have respect for a blade, but in training, they should not have fear of it. If they are terrified of it, they'll always bail out and won't be able to block or attack properly.

Yes, it's not realistic, as you can't ever practice this. The best that we can do is simulate this as best we can with armor and simulated blades to prevent injury. If a student gets too reliant on armor, and starts losing respect for the weapon, just take the armor off. (Obviously not with a live blade.) He'll re-gain the respect pretty quickly.

I like to train students using a variety of weapons and protection levels for sparring. Heavy sticks and heavy padding. Light sticks and light padding. Light sticks and no padding for controlled sparring. For students who are afraid of being hit, and dishing out damage, pad them up good, and cut them loose. For the cocky ones who wade in too much, pad up their opponent, and take their pads off. Just custom tailor the protection to the needs of the student. It's pretty easy.

For the people crying "But what about blades?!!!"... Some of us practice an impact weapon system, or at least make a specific reference as to what is a stick tactic compared to what is a blade tactic. Students need to have respect for a blade, but in training, they should not have fear of it. If they are terrified of it, they'll always bail out and won't be able to block or attack properly.

I have to disagree w some of the advice here but some of it has been spot on. If a guy said he wants to learn muay Thai or boxing would you recommend buying some gloves and finding a friend to duke it out with? I don't think FMA is any different, if you aren't already familiar with the art buying some sticks and head gear and beating the **** out of each other is not the best approach. If you already train FMA and your class dissent train real contact than maybe getting a class mate and trying it out might be beneficial.

Does anyone know how the dog bros train on a weekly basis? The impression I get is the hard contact stuff happens a few times a year, but I'm curious if they do regular light contact sparring or what kind of training takes place.

I'd rather start without armor other than goggles and a mouthpiece and work up. It's a bitch to train out those bad habits once they're established.

The flipside is that you are then training your partners to pull their strikes. Its like karate/tkd point fighting, that instills just as many bad habits that you have to work out. I prefer to start padded and run to light rattan and less armor. I want people to start out trying to flatten a fencing mask with a padded stick, this is a good habit. :D

I'd rather start without armor other than goggles and a mouthpiece and work up. It's a bitch to train out those bad habits once they're established.

Honestly, it depends on the student for this. For anyone with a more aggressive mentality, I totally agree. But I've trained a few students who are naturally very passive, and would always retreat. They'd always fall back to an extreme largo, and be out of range to counter. In these cases I'd force them to pad up and stay in to get used to staying in-range for a block and counter.

Retreating footwork is a valid defense, and one of the safest options. But when someone is constantly moonwalking backward, they just get steamrolled. Training some tactical forward aggression becomes really crucial here, and I've found that padding them up can be helpful for this situation.

Obviously there's the flip side of the coin to this. If someone is always aggressive and pressing, I restrict their use of padding and use the threat of a little pain as a training tool. This is definitely more common, but I've run across a few exceptions.